French and European flags lay on the floor as waiters closed a small bar where only soft drinks had been on offer. Le Pen's victory party took place at the Francois Mitterrand sports centre in her flagship town of Henin-Beaumont, northern France. In a defiant and bitter atmosphere outside a sports bar in northern Paris, where Melenchon held his electoral night, dozens of his fans shouted chants of resistance. Thirty-seven year-old Melenchon voter Fahrid, unemployed, said he would not go and vote in the second round on May 7. Macron, Le Pen, all the same," he said.

Source: The Star April 23, 2017 23:15 UTC